The Brookhaven leader., 1887-06-16

smooth sailing. SO you have found II; 81
thave found It. Did you ever notice VI,
end Of the life Of the apostlc5 OF Jesnl
Christi You would cay that II ever mel
ought to hive smooth life, q smooth Dc
p"-vurc, then those men, the disciples o
Jesus. Christ, oufht u have had such {
departure And saoa life.
ct vames lost his head st. Philip wa
hung to death on pillar st. Matthew
had his life dashed out with halbert
St Mark was dragged to death through
the streets. St. James the Less wa.
beaten TO death with a fuller's club. st
Thomas was struck through With q spear
They did not ind FOIL owing Christ smooth
sailing. Oh, how they were all tossed IL
the tempestl John Huss In the Are;
Hugh McKall In the hour of martyrdom
the Albigenses, the Waldenses, The
Scotch covenauters-did they find &
smooth sailingi
| But Why go to history when I can come
! Into this audience to-day and find a score
| of illustrations of tho truth of this sub
| Ject That young man in the store try ing
to serve God, while his empower SCOTS at
Christianity; the young men in the same
| store antagonisiic to the Christian re-
ligion, teasing him, tormcntins him ahou,
his religion, trying to get ATM hiad. They
succeed in getting rim mad, saying:
"Yeu'"e pretty Christian"
nces this young man find 1t smooth sail.
| ing when he tries to follow Christi
Here is a Christian girl Her father As
spises the Christian rellsien' Esr mother
despises the eht:stian religion; her
brothers and sisters scoff at the Christian
religion; she can hardly find a quiet
place in which TO say her prayers. Did
hot a
to follow Jesus Christi
Oh, mol All who would live the life n
the Christian religion ri~at Sun II perse-
cution, il yor t6 not ind 1t in one way,
yot will get It In another way. The ques-
ticn was asked:
'Who are those nearest the throuep
To this the answer came back;
these are they who Guns up oft of
great tribulatien'-sre Il Railing as the
original has IT. great II liling, great pound
ing;-"and had their robes washed and
rnade White in the blood of the Lamb"
Oh, do not be disheartenedl Oh, child
of God, take couragei You are in glo-
rious companiouship. God will see YOU
through all these trials, and He will de-
liver you.
My subject also impresses me with the
face that, some people get very much
frightened.
In thu tones of these disciples as tn ey
rushed into the back ptrt of the boat,
find they are frightened almost to death.
They say:
Master, carest Thou not that we perishf
They had no reason to be, frightened,
for Csrlst was in the boat. l suppose il
we had beea there we would have been
just as much frightened. Perhaps more.
In all ages very good people get very
much frightened. 1t is often so in our
day, and men say:
"Why, look at the bad lectures; look at
the Sprituallstic societies; look at the
various errors going over the Church of
God; we are going to founder; the
Church is going to perish; she is going
down"
Oh, how many good people are alright.
ed by iniquity in our day, and think tie
church of Jesus Christ Is going to be over
,hrs On, and are Just as much affrighted
as We're the disciples of my text Don't
worry, don't fret though in guilty were
going to triumph over righteousness.
A lion goes into cavern to sleep He
lies down. with his shaggy name
covering the paws. Meanwhile the
spiders spin web across the mouth Of
lhc cavern, ana say:
eve have capture him."
GoSsamer thread after G pssariior thread
is spun until the whole front of the cav
err Is covered with the spiders web, and
the spiders say:
"The lion is done; the lion is fast"
After awhile the lion has got through
sleeping; he rouses himself, he shakes
his name, he walks out into the sunlight;
ha Of : =.
spun, and with his voice he shakes the
mountain.
So men come spinning their sophlstries
and skepticism about Jesus Christ. He
seems to be sleeping. They say:
I'VE have captured the Lord; he will
never come forth again upon the nation;
Christ is captured forever. His religion
will never make any conquest among
men"
But after awhile the lion of the Tribe Of
Judah will rouse himself and come forth
to shake nightly the nation. Watts a
SPIDERS web to the aroused lion? Give
truth and error fair grapple, and truth
will come off victor.
But there are great many good people
who get affrighted in other respec s; they
are affrighted in our day about revivals.
They say:
'Oh! this is a strong religious gale; we
are afraid the Church of God Is going to
be upset, and there are going to be a
great many people brought into the
church that are going to be of no use to
it."
They are affrighted whenever they see
revival taking hol of the churches. As
though ship captain with 500 bushels
of wheat for cargo should say, some
day, coming upon deck: Throw over
board all cargo" and the sailors should
say: "Why, captain, what do you mean.
Throw over all the clrgoF'
"Oh," says the captain, tive have peck
of chaff that has got into this j, 600 bushels
of wheat, and the only way to get rid of
the chaff IS to throw all the wheat over
board"
Now, that is a great deal wiser than the
talk of a great many Christians who want
to throw overheard all the thousands
and tens of thousands OF souls who
are the subjects of revivals. Throw
all overheard because they
are brought into the kingdom of God
through great REVEALS, because there is a
peck of chaff, a quart of chaff, a pint of
chaff l say. let them stay until the last
day; the Lord will divide the chaff from
the wheat.
Do not be afraid Of the great revival.
oh, that these gales from Heaven might
sweep through all our churches. Oh, for
such days as Richard Baxter saw in En-
gland and Robert McCheyne saw in Dun
dee! Oh, for such days as Jonathan Ed
wards saw in Northampton! l have often
heard my father tell of the fact that in
the early part of this century revival